I start it, but could even do a chapiter ! maybe the story is good after, but the art is really really horrible ! the art is Horrible, i really don't like the charactere they are uglu ! i really can't read this things " sorry for the fan " but, every body has his own tast, so maybe you could like it ? :/

it was very, very good in the beginning, but then it went downhill. the ending was the worse ending i've ever read and even though its sad it didnt make me cry. the ending was pointless. it made no sense whatsoever and it was like the author just crapped out the ending because they didnt care about the story anymore.

to those of you who were wondering, there is no shonen ai in here. there is, however, you could interpret things in a shonen ai way, but really if you're reading just for that you will be disappointed.

this series was horrible because it started off amazingly, and then went to the pits. it would have been better if the author didn't write an ending at all.

please don't be put off by the art, the story more than makes up for it. (plus i like the art--at least towards the later volumes anyway)

but: this is SHOUJO. it ran in a SHOUJO MAGAZINE and it was written primarily FOR GIRLS. of course guys can enjoy it too and i highly recommend it to everyone regardless of gender, but please give shoujo manga some credit, they're a diverse bunch--much more than just flowers and high school romance.

I heard about "Banana Fish" after reading "Let Dai" and was expecting some... you know... "shounen ai" ^_~. It's not a "shounen ai", but imho even the bonds of friendship between boys weren't described well enough.
For me it is a shounen manga, mostly dedicated to Ash's coolness (in a kitsch way), politics and mafia. It lacks senses and depth in describing of friendship, love, inner worlds of protagonists, motives. It looks for me like all guys there are just playing "aren't we cool men" games, letting their enemies go, when it's better to kill them, taking elegant revenges.
After all the good comments about "Banana fish", I was reading it attentively till volume 5 and then I just began to read only the manga parts with Ash or Eiji being involved - I was trying to find the reason for all these pathetic comments. Till the end, these parts of a manga were not deep enough for me.
"Let Dai" is much more touching and deep and realistic, makes you feel terrible and shiver and scared of this dark world of street gangs's violence, and at the same time makes you feel attracted to it and to not-always-cool-and-right protagonists. For me, there was no such a thing in Banana Fish.
Oddly enough (for mangaka-woman), it's a good shounen manga (especially for not very mature readers). From the ~13volume began a real good action The specials were good too. Just because of that, I'm giving it 7/10.

... Last updated on July 11th, 2011, 2:57pm

One of the best series iv read.... but man did it take me a long time to get over the ending!!! It hurt soo much..... he deserved to be happy after all he went through.
I bawled at the end.
Still angry with the author for doing that

Again, when I see such a masterpiece fall under the radar because "the art sucks" I always tear up because this deserves more credit! Yes, the drawing may not be "up to the standard' as present drawings but who cares when it has hearts.

Also to make things clear, it's NOT SHOUNEN AI!!!There is no upfront kissing between 2 guys( ok TWICE but not for what ppl are thinking) Why can't ppl just believe that a deep frdship can happen between 2 guys? I like yaoi, shounenai as much as the next fangirl but when it's obviously not, it is false advertisement.

Every time I reread this I always laugh that this was categorized as "shojo" because it is 100% obvious that its shonen/seinen in every aspect. This manga is truly my heart of hearts....EXCEPT THE LAST VOLUME!!!! This manga was so beautiful before THAT happened and when the tag says tragedy believe me when it happens..it hits HARD. But for newbies, don't let this scare you away-read up to the middle of last volume and stop right there and you'll leave with a smile XD It had gunfights, betrayal, death, and beautiful friendship( in fact, the most beautiful I have seen) Poor Ash, the Shiva, compared to the innocent Eiji and the things they gone through together. When you finish the manga, it will be hard to believe that only 1 year went by but when you see the personal growth amongst the main characters-you realize that 1 year alone is enough to change a person.

I will give this a 9/10 because the editor apparently just force fed the whole bs about adding THAT at the end to the mangaka and totally just killed the happiness I longed for -_- But overall, I can't recommend this enough!! It deserved the award it was given!!!

... Last updated on May 7th, 2011, 9:51pm

It has been way too much time since I originally read this so i can't really give my first impressions as I don't remember them lol, I don't think I ever had a problem with the art tough.
What can I say that hasn't been before well the art is actually god (at least I liked it).
The characters, the story, they're so human, so sad, so funny, so powerful, so deep, so twisted, so beautiful..... so great.

I've read it 4 times already, and I’ve cried every single time, when I begin it, I have trouble putting my mind off everything that will happen trough the story. And half way through it, I struggle to stop thinking about the ending, to keep on reading, just to be left crying my heart out in the end lol.
That’s how much I love it, I just can't help myself from rereading it, with enough time between reads to emotionally recover, to gather the courage, and to prepare myself for it, granted I’ll always end up in crumbles by the end but.....

If you don't like the art and deem it to be too wordy, what are you, five? Go look at a picture book instead if your brain can't keep up.

Seriously, this story cuts so deep. Though I hate tragedies (I hate crying when I read) it made me FEEL. I absolutely loved it.

Don't be put of by the art, the art isn't good but the story makes up for it a hundred times over. The story get's complicated but not ridiculously complicated that you have no idea what's going on. It also keeps the characters, not killing them off one second then bringing in a replacement but rather when they are killed they stay dead and no new character comes in illogically. It's realistic as in it doesn't make out to be what it's not. It's taking me ages to read but it's worth it and you can't really rush it, it's not a quick read.

... Last updated on June 12th, 2011, 8:25am

I admit, it's generally not my kind of story (more shounen-ish than shoujo), but the conclusion of the series made a few tears shed out. I HATE tragedies.